E. Kalimantan’s Green Turtle Population Rapidly Dying Off

Tunggadewa Mattangkilang Jakarta Globe 28 Feb 12;

Berau, East Kalimantan. The green turtle population in the Berau marine conservation area off East Kalimantan has declined by about 70 percent in the past decade as a result of human activity, a wildlife activist revealed on Monday.

Rusli Andar, coordinator for World Wildlife Fund Indonesia’s East Kalimantan marine program, said that there were an estimated 100,0000 to 150,000 turtles in the conservation area in 2002 but that by 2010 the numbers had dropped to between 30,000 and 50,000.

“There are a lot of factors for this, including the illegal trade in turtles and turtle eggs, the killing of turtles for their shells and the continued use of trawl nets by fishermen in which the turtles get tangled up and die,” he said.

But the biggest threat, Rusli said, is the development of beach resorts on some of the 12 islands within the conservation zone, including Derawan and Sangalaki islands, whose beaches are important nesting grounds for turtles that lay their eggs there.

Rusli said the Berau administration had allowed a spate of development in recent years in order to cater to the growing number of tourists in the area.

What is ironic, he pointed out, is that the turtles are one of the main reasons tourists come to Berau. So by destroying their nesting grounds, the administration is killing off a key source of income.

“Why would tourists still come here if there were no turtles?” Rusli said .

He also bemoaned the lack of enforcement against the trade in turtles and their eggs.

Under the 1990 Natural Resources Conservation Law, the green turtle is a protected species and anyone caught trading it faces up to five years in prison and Rp 100 million ($11,000) in fines.

“It’s clear that the trade in turtles, whether live or dead, is prohibited by law, yet the fact remains that the practice is thriving,” Rusli said.

“Law enforcement on this issue is still weak.”

Spanning 1.32 million hectares, the Berau marine conservation area, established in 2005, is the largest green turtle refuge in Indonesian waters.

It is also home to the second-highest coral reef biodiversity in Indonesia after West Papua’s Raja Ampat Islands, and the third-highest in the world.